


Fulcrum

by FreakishLemon



Series: Open Fire AU [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, ahsoka tano is the best, she is her master's padawan, which holds true for either master in this case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9801329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakishLemon/pseuds/FreakishLemon
Summary: I had anticipated doing an Anakin chapter next, but Ahsoka Tano was not taking the back seat on this one.  I think we all need more interaction between Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. They don't spend enough time together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had anticipated doing an Anakin chapter next, but Ahsoka Tano was not taking the back seat on this one. I think we all need more interaction between Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. They don't spend enough time together.

Ahsoka Tano was pretty sure that she'd never get used to this whole Being Knighted thing. It had been three months since her ceremony and the Masters kept telling her it would stop feeling so weird, but it hadn't. She’d been granted a larger set of rooms now that she was no longer a Padawan, but she kept going to her old rooms when she wasn't paying attention. She kept expecting the Masters to scold her for spending too much time in the dojo or for loitering in the halls when she waited for her friends to finish class. She felt, most of all, the watchful eyes of the Crèche Masters when she stopped to talk with the younglings now, as if they expected her to take on a Padawan as soon as her beads were removed.

Which was _ridiculous_. What kind of a crazy person takes on a Padawan just after their Knighting?

Ahsoka worried that she'd be sent out on solo missions right away, now that she was a Knight. She still compulsively checked her comm messages for a summons and felt a little ashamed by the relief she felt at not having received any. It wasn't like she hadn't done solo missions before as a Senior Padawan - she had. It was kind of inevitable for the Council Padawans, since their Masters were required to be in Temple more often than not. She had enjoyed solo missions. There was just too much for her to do while she was in the Temple.

Ahsoka released another annoyed huff and resisted the urge to tap her foot in impatience as she waited for a turbolift. This lift was being extra slow and Ahsoka had promised to host the extracurricular Jar’Kai workshop for the Junior Padawans advanced classes. The saber master had been needling her to host one for weeks, but with her Knighting and the Council’s sudden focus elsewhere, her schedule had gotten a bit… shuffled around.

Finally, the chimed _dinged_ and the doors opened. Ahsoka lept into the lift-car and jammed a long finger at the appropriate button for the floor she needed. She narrowed her eyes at the open doorway, stubbornly _not_ pushing the door close button in case any last minute riders needed to make the lift, and then blinked in surprised when another passenger reached forward to push the door close button for her. When she turned to look at him, he winked at her and tried to hide a small smile.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, glancing quickly at the masked Temple Guard that stood silently in the corner of the lift.

“You’re quite welcome.”

The human man stood facing front so that Ahsoka could only see the right side of his face, but his blue-green eyes flicked over in her direction. He looked ragged - clothes hanging too big on his thin frame and several days worth of reddish stubble on his face - but he stood straight and he spoke calmly. _Temple raised_ , Ahsoka thought, giving his a once over. _But he’s been away a long time. Undercover, maybe. Which would explain the guard._

“Have you been away long, Master?” Ahsoka asked. The man stiffened, then blinked, then chuckled.

“Yes,” he said amiably. “I’m afraid I have.”

“Good to be back?” she teased.

“Well,” he drew the word out, considering, “The circumstances make things a little… complicated.” She nodded, agreeing. Ahsoka had sat in on enough mission reports from Jedi stationed outside of the Core that the culture-shock was jarring when they came back to Coruscant. It was something she’d been working on bringing up with her Master to be discussed in Council.

“If you need anything to help settle back in, feel free to give me a call- Knight Ahsoka Tano,” she said proudly, holding out a hand for the customary human greeting. He hesitated before reaching out his own hand and an expression crossed his face during their brief contact. Ahsoka wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was _sad_. Or maybe, regretful? It was gone in an instant, though, and the turbolift slowed to a stop. Before the doors opened on his floor, he turned to her and gave her a deep bow.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Knight Tano.”

The Temple Guard moved forward when the doors opened and the Master was escorted out of the lift before Ahsoka had a chance to respond. Not that she knew _how_ to respond. The bow was deeper than someone of her station warranted and the tone in his voice when he said her name was unlike anything she’d ever heard before, as if she was someone _important_. She shuddered, a chill running up her spine and her hunter sense prickling at her to _pay attention_. The scarring on his face looked _familiar_.

Ahsoka cursed loudly in the empty lift car. She’d forgotten to ask for his name. It was going to be _hell_ trying to find the right file on this Master.

 

*****

 

Ahsoka didn’t see the Mystery Master again for another couple of weeks. It wasn’t that unusual, she supposed. The Temple was a big place and unless their schedules happened to run past each other, it was only by the will of the Force that they might have bumped into each other in the halls. She had wondered if maybe he’d been sent back out to wherever he had been, but part of her duties assisting Master Plo was reviewing missions files and she had recognized all the names that had crossed Plo’s desk recently.

Ahsoka had just been finishing up with the younglings in one of the conference rooms and gathering up any datapads left behind when the Mystery Master walked in through the door, expression puzzled when a young Rodian darted around his legs.

“Knight Tano,” he said, surprised.

“Hello again!” she greeted cheerfully, as she tucked an errant datapad into the crook of her elbow and checked under the table to make sure nothing had fallen during the course of their meeting. She sighed and reached down to retrieve Noli’s boots, which he was prone to shedding when he sat still for more than five minutes.

“I wasn’t aware these rooms were available to the younglings,” he said curiously, bending down stiffly to gather a couple of dropped styluses.

“Not usually,” Ahsoka agreed, circling the table for another check. “Technically, the Initiates Council is supposed to meet in the gardens, but they like to meet in here sometimes so that it’s more _official_.”

“The Initiates Council?”

“Yeah,” she said absently, then paused and turned to look at him. He looked bewildered. “You don’t know what that is, do you?”

“No,” he said softly, shaking his head. Ahsoka whistled.

“You _have_ been gone a long time. It’s been going for… wow, fourteen years now. That makes me feel old.” The human barked out a surprised laugh. “Oh shut up. I _know_. It just… doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. I founded the Initiates Council,” she said proudly tipping her chin up.

“Did you? Then I’ve found the perfect person to educate me.”

The man eased himself into one of the chairs and Ahsoka noticed his prosthetic hand for the first time when it clicked against the table. The man moved it out of her view self-consciously.

“It’s not that hard a concept,” she said lightly, with a shrug. “I’m sure you can keep up.”

“Please,” he said warmly, and gestured for her to continue.

“You remember how it was an an Initiate, I’m assuming. You’d find a problem - a bully or not enough time for your clan in the dojo for practice assignments or roasted tubers _every day_ for a week for lunch - that the Masters somehow didn’t notice. You’d bring it up with your Clan Master like you were supposed to and then nothing would happen. The Clan Master didn’t think it was a problem or it wasn’t a problem that was high up on the list of things to deal with that day,” she paused to consider, “Or maybe the Clan Master just didn’t hear you because they kept running back and forth from the Creche to the Healers because half of the clan was down with the flu.”

“You were frustrated.”

“ _Sith hells_ , I was frustrated,” she laughed. “I know _now_ that it wasn’t anything against me personally, but you don’t know that when you’re little. You just know that no one is listening to you.”

“What did you do?”

“I took my list of problems and marched my eleven year old self up to the Council spire and waited outside the doors until they’d let me in.”

“Oh _no_ ,” the man laughed, covering his face with his right hand. “You _didn’t_.”

“I absolutely _did_ ,” Ahsoka grinned with all her teeth. “And it worked! After they heard me out, Master Windu told me to go to each of the clans and have them pick a representative who would bring each clan’s problems to his office the next day.”

“And over time you formed a Council for the Initiates. That’s _amazing_. What did you say to convince the Council to take you seriously?” he said with awe in his voice. “Sometimes it feels like the Council barely listens to grown Knights.”

“It was the roast tubers thing, actually. Roast tubers for lunch for a week straight,” she said, watching the confusion on his face. “I know. It sounds like a little thing. But I was the only Togruta in my clan - the only species with carnivorous dietary requirements. The others were all primarily herbivores. Breakfast was always some kind of grains. Lunch was roasted tubers for a week in the Initiate’s hall. The only time I was getting animal proteins was at dinner in the main cafeteria. After a week, I was starting to feel sick, but not sick enough to go the the Healers yet. The Council was concerned that other younglings might be at risk.”

“There were others,” the man said. Ahsoka nodded.

“Not many, but a few. Some were like me with dietary issues that needed to be better accounted for. Some were placed in clans with different ambient temperature requirements or species social needs. Enough that it was a concern.”

“It was a problem for one of my clan-mates for a while,” he said, nodding. “She’s Mon Calamari and the rest of us were human-variants. The meal program the clan masters used at the time had a glitch that wouldn’t allow it to accept changes to a single meal request. It had to be input in multiples of two.”

“Did she get moved to another clan?” Ahsoka asked.

“No,” he laughed. “I told our clan master to change my meal too and got used to eating raw fish eggs for breakfast.”

Ahsoka’s laugh was cut short by a curt _ahem_ from the doorway. Master Yoda stood there, leaning on his gimmer stick, face unusually grim. She chanced a glance at the human man. His expression shuttered into a sort of chastised blankness and he didn’t meet her eyes.

“Knight Tano,” Master Yoda said. “Somewhere to be, I believe you have.”

“Yes Master,” she answered promptly, checking her wrist-chrono. “I’m sorry. I lost track of time.”

“Hmm.” The old master limped slowly into the room. “Go, I think you should, before _too_ late, you are. A meeting I have, with this one.” He gestured to the human with his stick.

“Of course, Master.”

Ahsoka bowed to Master Yoda first, then a quick bow to the human who nodded back apologetically, before she left the conference room. She passed by Master Windu, Master Plo, and a Zeltron woman she didn’t know in the hall and frowned. It was unusual for a Master to meet with three Council members outside the Council chambers.

Ahsoka stopped dead in the hallway and nearly dropped some of her cargo. _Stang._ She’d forgotten to get that Master’s name again.

 

*****

 

Ahsoka poked at a stack of datapads teetering precariously close to the edge of her desk and sighed. She’d spent half the morning trying to schedule both the Initiates Council and Padawans Council meetings around the sudden influx of High Council meetings. It was campaign season for the Galactic Senate, which meant extra eyes were watching the Order -- which meant more Senate hopefuls trying to get their noses into Council business -- which, of course, meant more Council meetings and more demands on Councillors’ time outside the Chambers. Ahsoka still needed to coordinate the Exhibition Tournament for this quarter and put together tournaments for the Junior and Senior Padawans to give them something to do during the upcoming Audit. She had half a mind to start petitioning for a Masters Tournament after the election. With the way tempers were running these days, the Masters could all do with a bit of stress relief.

The door chime to her tiny, cupboard-like office chimed and Ahsoka practically jumped out of her chair. She called for her guest to enter and relaxed when Master Plo stepped over a pile of flimsi to the guest chair. Well, it was supposed to be a chair. It was more of a stool. A proper chair didn’t leave any room for maneuvering.

“You look busy, Little ‘Soka,” Master Plo said with a smile in his voice and perching himself on the stool. Ahsoka grinned at him, tiredly.

“No busier than you are, Master.”

Master Plo took a moment to survey her tiny space, taking in her lists taped to the wall and her semi-color-coded organizational piles. Ahsoka hadn’t noticed quite how many administrative duties she’d taken on since her Knighting until she watched her former Master’s body language slowly shift with surprise. He tilted his head, not exactly asking a question, and she shrugged. She had been a natural fit for some of these jobs because she had the experience as a Councilor’s Padawan and she’d discovered a talent for intuiting which people needed to be doing which jobs to keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

“‘Soka,” Master Plo said softly, turning back to her. “Are you… happy doing this work?”

“Uh…” The question surprised her. “I guess?”

“I noticed you haven’t signed up for the mission roster since your Knighting.”

“Do you want me to do more missions away, Master?” she asked, curious.

“I want you to do what _you_ want to do,” he sighed, the sound of it hissing a little in his face mask. “I know being dragged along to boring meetings wasn’t what you wanted out of your apprenticeship, ‘Soka. I had hoped to do more work _away_ from the Temple when you were old enough.”

Ahsoka frowned. “We went on away missions.”

“Did we go on enough?” he asked. “You used to talk about visiting new places and helping people out there in the galaxy, but you have stayed _here_ since your Knighting. I don’t want you to think that you are not capable or that you shouldn’t take missions away because your training was so focused here.”

“You’re worried.”

“It’s my _job_ as your Master to worry, young one,” Master Plo chuckled, reaching over the desk to clasp one of her hands. Ahsoka smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

“You’re right. I did talk a lot about going on missions far away. I’ve thought about it a lot. Meditated on it, even. And I will, someday. But right now, I need to be here. I’m not sure why yet, but the Force is telling me that this is where I should be.”

 

*****

 

“ _Me?!_ ” Ahsoka couldn’t keep her jaw from dropping. No _way_. This was _crazy_.

“I’m not asking you to take my _seat_ , Ahsoka,” Master Windu said, rolling his eyes and ignoring the odd snicker from other chairs in the Council Chambers. “I’m _old_ and I’ve made it known that I plan on stepping down from this Council within the next year. You’ve done fine work for this Council and, more than that, you’ve demonstrated a consistent and clear commitment to what’s best for the Order. You’re a strong leader, Ahsoka. I have no doubt you will take a chair on this Council one day, but we have not yet decided on prospects to fill _this_ seat and under these new Senate provisions, we are stretched too thin. We need someone we can trust and who has the experience to take responsibility for some of these duties as soon as possible.”

Ahsoka swallowed and shifted, not even caring that she was betraying her nerves. She glanced over to Master Plo’s seat and he nodded encouragingly.

“What about the work I’m doing now? I can’t just drop it.”

“A team, you will be given,” Master Yoda said. “Senior Padawans, new Knights who need the experience, and Administrative Corps members. Standard operating processes for your work, you will develop and teach these to your team, you will. Still under your responsibility, this work will fall, but a more supervisory role, you will take.”

“It’s been made clear,” Master Mundi added, “That as it stands now if, Force forbid, something happened to you, this Order would be left with the same gaping vacancies that led to you taking on this work in the first place. It is better to establish a group to learn the responsibilities in these now necessary positions so that the same vacuum is not created if someone should no longer be capable of fulfilling those duties.”

“A team?” Oh _wow_.

“Yes,” Master Windu repeated. “A team. Some of the duties you would be taking on from members of this Council will require you to take missions off-world and you will need members of that team to adequately cover any in Temple duties that need to be tended to while you are away.”

“Away missions?” At Master Windu’s frustrated scowl, Ahsoka shook herself and straightened up. “Of course, Master.”

“Accept this responsibility, you will?”

“Yes Master.” Ahsoka barely kept the grin off her face and the Force trilled excitedly in the back of her mind. This was _good_. This was important.

“Good,” Master Windu said, nodding and jotting down the decision on his datapad. “Then this Council meeting is adjourned. Not _you_ ,” he amended pointing at Ahsoka as some of the Council members behind her stood and started filing out the the room. Master Plo stood and assisted Master Yoda into his hoverchair, but neither of them left the room.

“Master?” Ahsoka asked, deliberately not turning to look at everyone leaving. When the others had all left the room, Master Windu groaned.

“Help me out of this damn chair, would you?” Ahsoka lept forward to lend a hand, wincing as she heard to the human’s joints pop as he levered himself upright. “There is one thing we’d like you to start as soon as possible. The Senate has been keeping an eye on this and it’s making them nervous that these meetings have involved so many Council members.”

Master Yoda led the group out into the hall, easily navigating his hoverchair along the path to Master Windu’s spacious office. Master Plo sat down in one of the guest chairs next to Master Windu’s desk and Master Yoda floated his chair over to the window to look out over Coruscant’s skyline. Master Windu sat down in his chair and gathered a stack of flimsi file folders and a datapad together. Ahsoka tentatively sat down in the guest chair in front of Master Windu’s desk and he placed the pile in front of her. She held still under his gaze before he began to speak.

“Thirty years ago, a Padawan from this Temple assassinated a Senator and a prominent member of the IBC,” Master Windu said gravely. “This kind of thing was… unheard of. This wasn’t a mission gone wrong or a mistake or mental illness gone untreated. It was stone-cold, premeditated murder. I want you to understand that first and foremost.”

Ahsoka shivered and nodded, recalling a history class from her Padawan days. The lesson didn’t go into much detail, just that a Jedi had killed a Senator and an IBC Magister suspected of using the Dark Side of the Force. This had prompted swift legislation regarding the monitoring and accountability of the Jedi Order to the Senate. The Master who had taught the class had focussed on the consequences for the Order and how the Order was currently governed, not on the act itself. She certainly hadn’t been taught that it was a _Padawan_ who had done it.

“What happened to this Padawan?” she asked, realizing that she’d never been taught that either.

“He was tried in the Courts and was sentenced to serve many years in prison,” Master Plo answered her. Ahsoka was surprised.

“I thought all criminal activity by Force users was under the responsibility of the Order,” she said.

“It is,” Master Windu said, scrubbing a wrinkled hand over his tired face. “But Obi-Wan Kenobi deliberately left behind his lightsaber before leaving the Order to plan his attack. He had also cut off his braid, which is not common knowledge. It was assumed later that the braid burned off in the explosion and since the Order did not revoke his title, we let that assumption stand.”

“Evidence, Judicial found,” Yoda said sadly, “That Dark Siders, the victims were. See them in the Force, we did not, but deny that truth to young Kenobi, we could not. His actions... endangered the Order, they did. Calling for _all_ our heads, the Senate was- the public was. A public trial in a criminal court, was needed. Political, his trial was.”

“But that was thirty years ago,” Ahsoka said. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Two months ago, Obi-Wan Kenobi was released from prison. He must meet with his probation officer to confirm that he is following the terms of his release every two weeks for one standard year, then every month in the following year until his reassessment. But because his title was never revoked, he is still _technically_ a member of this Order and it has been mandated by the Senate that we have a representative present during these meetings to confirm his compliance with our own restrictions on his behaviour.”

“You were drawing too much attention,” she realized. “Three Council members implies that you think he’s dangerous. That’s why the Senate is getting nervous.”

“Dangerous, he _is_ , Ahsoka Tano,” Master Yoda insisted, tapping his stick against the base of his hoverchair for emphasis. “Forget _that_ , you must not.”

“But he has complied with the authorities since his arrest,” Master Plo answered, in a tone that suggested this very discussion had been hashed out more than once. “He has displayed no inclination towards violence.”

“Hmph,” Master Yoda grumbled, “Dark, his visions always were. Dark, he could have become without us knowing. Hidden, other Dark Siders have been. Met with Hego Damask more than once, I had and sensed Darkness in _him_ , I did not. Say for certain that Obi-Wan Kenobi is not Dark, _we_ cannot.”

“ _I_ do not think he has Fallen,” Master Plo said, crossing his arms, and Ahsoka could feel a quirk of a smirk twitch in the corner of her mouth. Ahsoka had always been considered the stubborn one of their Master-Padawan team, but she knew better. Master Plo was just usually more quiet about it.

“ _Regardless_ ,” Master Windu interjected, “We need someone we can trust to sit in on those probation meetings. You have the service record to prove that you are capable of handling delicate political situations and, frankly, the skills to subdue him, if it comes to that.”

“And I’m a new enough Knight that it won’t worry the Senate,” she concluded, nodding along with his logic. “If the Council can trust a rookie to babysit a murderer, then he’s no longer a threat to them. Smart.”

“I have my moments,” Master Windu said. He tapped at the pile of flimsi folders. “These are Kenobi’s records. Intake papers, mission reports, personal documents retrieved from his rooms,” he took a deep breath before continuing, “And, most importantly, unedited footage of his attack from Senate security cams recovered after the explosion. Study them. Get to know him the way you would an enemy of this Order. I’m not saying that he _will_ try anything, but we have been wrong about him before. I don’t want you going into that room unprepared.”

“Okay,” Ahsoka said, letting out a breath and picking up the stack. “I can do this.”

 

*****

 

Ahsoka paced nervously along the back wall of the conference room, checking her wrist-chrono way too often. The Council was _counting_ on her and she had never quite felt the _weight_ of that responsibility before. The Force hummed along in the back of her mind, but it wasn’t putting her at ease, not like it normally did. She didn’t know what that meant.

The doors to the conference room slid open and Ahsoka jumped, clutching a hand to her chest as her heart sped up. It was a Zeltron woman dressed in a practical suit and carrying a business case -- Saleena Jalen, Kenobi’s probation officer. Ahsoka let out a breath and laughed at herself.

“Nervous?” Saleena asked, a teasing note wrapping around her accent.

“How can you tell?” Ahsoka laughed. “Master Windu doesn’t normally jump on the ceiling in your meetings?”

“Not usually,” she said, her accent tilting into an amused laugh. “Sit down. It won’t be that bad. Do you have any questions for me, before he gets here?”

“I don’t think so,” Ahsoka said, grabbing her datapad from the other side of the table. “Master Yoda was very thorough in drilling the Order’s questions into my head.”

“You’ll do fine,” Saleena assured. “He is the easiest of my clients. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Really? The murderer’s the easiest?”

“He’s well-behaved,” she laughed. “I cannot say the same for others.”

A moment later, the door swished open again and in stepped Ahsoka’s Mystery Master. He looked terrible, thinner than the last time she’d seen him. He’d shaven recently, but had not managed it this morning, stubble coming in patchy of the scarred side of his face. There were dark circles under his eyes. He looked _tired_.

“Knight Tano, I’d like you to meet Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The Zeltron woman introduced them with a gesture as she pulled up the relevant files on her datapad.

“Knight Tano,” Kenobi acknowledged warily, eyes glancing back at the door. “May I ask why you’re here?” Saleena and Ahsoka looked at each other in surprise.

“They didn’t tell you?” Saleena asked, voice hardening. Kenobi shook his head.

“Master Yoda, Master Windu, and Master Plo will no longer be attending these meetings,” Ahsoka said quickly to cover up Saleena’s angry muttering. “It’s been determined that direct Council participation as part of your probation is no longer necessary and I will be attending these meetings from now on to fulfill the obligation of the Order to the Senate.”

Kenobi’s eyebrows rose, though she wasn’t entirely sure if he was impressed or surprised. “I must say that I’m relieved,” he added sheepishly after a moment, taking a seat. “Master Yoda’s glare is exhausting.”

The meeting didn’t seem so strange, after that. Saleena asked simple, direct questions. Kenobi answered them calmly and politely. They discussed his living arrangements and his continued job search. He confirmed that he had not entered the Senate district. Saleena asked him if he was still meeting with his former Master and comm calling his friend, and at his positive response, encouraged him to keep working on those relationships. Ahsoka watched quietly, until it came to her turn to ask questions. Her questions were answered in the same direct way, but Ahsoka could see little glimpses of a smile in Kenobi’s eyes when he addressed her.

“Do you have any questions before our next meeting?” Saleena asked Kenobi as she wrapped up the meeting. He shook his head no. “How about you, Knight Tano? Any questions for me or for Obi-Wan?”

“Just one,” Ahsoka said, making eye contact with the human. “If you don’t mind, Master Kenobi.”

“You know you shouldn’t call me Master, Knight Tano,” Kenobi said, mouth quirking. “I haven’t _technically_ passed my Trials.”

“Well I can’t call you _Padawan_ Kenobi,” she chuckled and she was pleased that it made him laugh.

“Obi-Wan, then,” he decided, his voice warm even as his shoulders started to tense up. “Your question… Do you want to know why I did it?”

Ahsoka shook her head. She could sense the Zeltron woman’s slight irritation shift into unexpected admiration. Of course Ahsoka wanted to hear the whole story for herself one day, but she could wait. She guessed that Saleena had had to deal with others who weren’t as patient. At the same time, Ahsoka could feel Obi-Wan’s shields firm up. She was making him nervous.

“I read the document you left behind. In your-” she paused, looking for the right word, “Uh. Other life, did you know me?” At his blank looked, she continued, “Just a feeling I have, that’s all. You don’t have to answer.”

“I did,” he said after a moment, voice rough. “You were my grand-Padawan.”

 

*****

 

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable after our last meeting,” Obi-Wan Kenobi said, pulling himself up out of his chair. Saleena had already left to meet another client, so it was just Ahsoka and Obi-Wan left in the conference room. “It wasn’t my intention.”

“I asked the question, Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka said, moving to walk beside him. “You just answered it. My reaction is my own responsibility, not yours.”

“Still…”

“I will accept the apology in the spirit it was given,” Ahsoka said imperiously, tilting her head in mock arrogance, “If you agree to join me.”

“More questions?” Obi-Wan asked, mouth quirking up on the right.

“Probably,” Ahsoka assented, “But I had something else in mind if you have the time.”

“Ahsoka Tano, _all_ I have is time,” Obi-Wan laughed, but he nodded and followed her lead. She had to shorten her usual stride for him - she was taller and he sometimes walked with a limp - but it made for a pleasant stroll through the wide Temple corridors. Most people didn’t notice them, and those that did notice them didn’t appear to recognize Obi-Wan.

Ahsoka was glad. She still had that warning that Master Windu had given her in the back of her mind and it would be prudent not to forget it, but the more time she spent with Obi-Wan Kenobi, the more she was convinced that Yoda’s fears were _wrong_. Obi-Wan didn’t feel Dark. His Force presence was worn and jagged with terrible things in his past - in this life or otherwise - but the human was still firmly in the Light.

Ahsoka laughed at the _ping_ of Obi-Wan’s surprise in the Force as she nudged him into a small dojo off of the small side corridor. Their boots echoed in the empty room, hers steady as she approached the storage closet at the far side and his a soft, muffled slide as he turned to examine the room. It was an older dojo with a floor made of actual wood instead of pressure-treated synthflooring, probably a gift to the Order a few centuries before. It was an otherwise unremarkable room, quiet and understated in a way that the main dojos were not. Ahsoka studied the man with narrowed eyes for a moment before ducking into the closet and pulling out two cellulose composite practice “sabers.”

“Catch!”

Obi-Wan caught the saber and examined it in his mismatched hands. He twirled it once in his right hand to test the weight, then quirked his eyebrow at her. He wasn’t smiling with his face, but Ahsoka could tell it was there. She twirled her own saber, pleased with the heft of it, and jogged over to the center of the room.

“You know I’m not allowed to-” He cut himself off, eyes darting to the open doorway of the dojo. He shrugged his shoulders and gestured sheepishly with the saber in his hand.

“You’re not allowed a _lightsaber_ ,” Ahsoka corrected, grinning. She tapped the end of the saber on the floor and took a slow step sideways to circle the man. “This isn’t a lightsaber at all.”

“Oh no, of course not,” Obi-Wan replied, voice lilting playfully with a growing smirk. He stepped opposite her on instinct and tossed the saber from hand to hand. The sound of the hilt made a click in his left and Ahsoka could practically see him file that information away for later.

Ahsoka had spent a lot of time in the dojos as a Padawan, training with whichever Masters had time to kick her ego down a notch. She’d met a lot of brilliant swordsfolk and took notice of their preparations and techniques, but very few of them had ever melded into _this_ dance as seamlessly as Obi-Wan Kenobi and she suspected that none of them would be able to do so after being thirty years out of practice.

She flipped the saber in her right hand, switching from a front to a reverse grip and back, and thrust the saber forward in a classic series of attacks. Obi-Wan blocked each strike casually, then rolled his shoulders as she backed off a little. She clenched her left hand to keep it from feeling empty without a shoto and the human noticed, aiming a few strikes to her left side. Ahsoka spun to block and deflect the strikes easily. His movements were slower than what she had expected, but his form had lost none of the precision expected of a Temple-trained duelist. They traded a few more blows to warm up, then reset their positions on the dojo floor.

Ahsoka had studied Jar’kai as soon as Master Plo would let her, so saluting with one blade felt unusual and clumsy, but she was further unbalanced watching the human shift his limbs into his own salute. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s file said that he had been studying Ataru under his Master, but the stance he used now was Soresu. _Stang._

The bout was a short flurry of motion. Ahsoka attacked with quick, sure strokes of the saber, which Obi-Wan deflected and dodged more easily than she had expected. The _clack_ of the practice blades as they bounced off of each other sounded in quick staccato bursts. Obi-Wan anticipated her flourishes and countered flashy feints with simple, practiced defense. She didn’t know how long they spent in the dancing push-pull of the spar, but it ended when Obi-Wan ducked his saber through an opening on her left and popped the edge of the saber up into the joint of her right wrist. Her hand went numb with the tingling sting of a pinched nerve and the momentum of the strike tossed her saber out of her hand and into the air. Obi-Wan called it over with the Force and clumsily caught it with the slow servos of his left hand, bowing with a sweep of his arms.

“Oh, that’s not fair,” Ahsoka hissed, shaking her hand to try to get some feeling back into it.

“You would have won if it had gone on any longer,” Obi-Wan huffed, panting slightly. “I’m appallingly out of practice.”

“Not _that_ out of practice.”

“Oh trust me, I am,” he said chuckling. He tossed her back her saber. “But I supposed in this case it’s given me a bit of an advantage.”

“Yeah?” Ahsoka caught the saber, wincing at the lingering pinpricks when the cellulose composite slapped into her hand. “What advantage?”

“Your techniques are incredibly proficient for your chosen lightsaber form,” Obi-Wan said, pride in his face and voice, but there was something else underneath. Amusement. He hefted the saber forward as he spoke. “And for a _lightsaber_. Which this, as you reminded me earlier, is _not_.”

The laugh bubbled out of her before she knew it was happening. Obi-Wan smiled - a real, genuine smile this time - and the Force was warm and happy in the back of her mind. The air in the room felt lighter around them than it had before.

“You know, your file says you studied Ataru,” Ahsoka accused when she could breathe through her laughter again. Obi-Wan shrugged, not hiding a grin. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, then moved to stand next to him.

“What are you doing?”

“Teach me, _Master_ Kenobi,” Ahsoka said, nudging Obi-Wan’s arm with an elbow. He leaned into the touch - like he wanted the camaraderie, like he missed closeness - but after a brief second, he pulled back with a tense frown.

“Why are you doing this Ahsoka? I’m grateful- you’ve done much to make me feel at ease here again.” He took an unsteady breath before continuing, “But you don’t know me. Not really.”

“You’re right,” she said after a moment. “I don’t know you, but I’d like to. I have a good feeling about it. And lineage is important.”

“I have no lineage in front of me, Knight Tano,” Obi-Wan said, eyes sad and staring unfocused away from her. “The only lineage I have now is behind me.” Ahsoka waited until he could look at her again.

“My grand-Master was Master Tyvokka,” she said. “He died before I was born. Master Plo had another Padawan before me, but I was very young when she was Knighted and we never grew close. So mostly, it’s just been Master Plo and me. He’s really been my only family since I left the creche.”

“I’m a little old for adoption,” Obi-Wan joked.

“Well,” Ahsoka dragged out the word, pretending to consider it. “I _am_ my Master’s Padawan and that's certainly never stopped him before.”

Obi-Wan laughed, hand clutching his side, and when he’d recovered, he pushed her through repetitions of the first three Soresu katas until her legs and arms were shaking.

 

*****

 

“And have you made contact with any Dark side users in the past two weeks?” Ahsoka continued, in the same bored tone she had asked the other questions. Saleena had already packed up her case and was just waiting for Ahsoka to finish her portion of the meeting. Obi-Wan didn’t answer immediately, which made Ahsoka sit up straight and narrow her eyes at the man.

“That’s a… complicated answer,” he said quietly, almost sheepish. Ahsoka groaned and covered her face with her hands. Saleena swore and opened her case back up.

**Author's Note:**

> Joke's on you, Ahsoka. You adopt him, you get to deal with the ridiculousness of the Kenobi effect. 8D


End file.
